Today is John Carpenter’s birthday, which is a bit of an unofficial holiday around these parts! So, I figured what better way to celebrate than by starting off the day with a video that pays homage to the master and which contains references to many of Carpenter’s classic films, including Christine and Halloween?
There is no better way! I mean, it’s about everyone’s favorite director and …. this is key …. you can dance to it!
Anyway, enjoy!
Another week and I have yet to watch the latest season of Cobra Kai. What can I tell you? This was a busy week and I was sick for a good deal of it. No, not COVID sick. Instead, I was just sick with the cold and the allergies that I get hit with every January. You would think that would lead to me having a lot of extra time in which I would have nothing to do but watch all the latest shows but it didn’t quite work out that way.
Anyway, I’m feeling better now and David Lynch’s birthday is next Thursday so this upcoming week is going to be a good one.
Here’s my week in television.
Allo Allo (Sunday Night, PBS)
LeClerc was nearly executed in the town square by Herr Flick. Apparently, it was because Flick is still searching for the stolen money. (To be honest, it can be a bit difficult to keep up with everyone’s motivations on Allo Allo.) Fortunately, the British bombers flew over the town just in time to provide a distraction. “The bummers!” Office Crabtree announced, in his mangled French, “Just in the nock of tome!” LeClerc escaped with his life but the British airmen are still stuck at Rene’s café.
The Amazing Race (Wednesday Night, CBS)
The Amazing Race went to Scotland this week, which made me feel very nostalgic for the last time that I was in Scotland. Unfortunately, at the end of this leg of the race, Phil announced that shooting was being suspended due to the COVID lockdowns. The action then picked up over a year later, with the remaining teams gathering in Switzerland to continue the race. Unfortunately, not all of the teams could return, including my favorite, the team of Anthony and Spencer. Boo hoo. Anyway, I reviewed this week’s episode here!
The Bachelor (Monday Night, ABC)
This Monday, I watched the Bachelor while also watching a Steven Seagal film. I’m still trying to decide which leading man had less charisma. Seagal is pretty boring but Clayton is just like a piece of cement that can speak in barely legible sentences.
Bar Rescue (Weekday Morning, Paramount)
I had this on the TV for background noise on Thursday morning. While Windows updated, I listened to Jon Taffer yell at an owner who forgot to call a cab for a drunk guy. Usually, I think Taffer needs to calm down but, in this case, he did have a point.
The Brady Bunch (Sunday Morning, MeTV)
On Sunday, MeTV aired four episodes of The Brady Bunch and they all featured Alice being taken for granted. In the first two episodes, her boyfriend took her for granted. In the next two, the family took her for granted and even drove her to quit at one point. The new maid wasn’t as nice as Alice so the family went down to Alice’s new waitressing job and basically got her fired. What a bunch of jerks. Why did Alice put with all that? Was the money that good?
Dexter: New Blood (Sunday Night, Showtime)
I wrote about the series finale here! For the record, I refuse to believe that Dexter’s dead.
Judge Steve Harvey (Monday and Tuesday Night, ABC)
I watched this new series on Monday. It came on after The Bachelor and I was too busy (or maybe lazy) to change the channel. I can’t really say I paid that much attention to it. Why would you air a cheesy courtroom show in Primetime? Why would you get Steve Harvey to be the judge? Why, why, why?
By the way, since Steve Harvey is now an ABC employee, you know he’s going to end up hosting the Oscars right? The Oscars are going to come back from commercial and Steve’s going to say, “If you ain’t thanking God in your speech, that Oscar’s not going to provide much comfort while you’re burning in Hell.”
King of the Hill (Weekdays, FXX)
I watched a few episodes of King of the Hill on Sunday afternoon. My favorite of them was the two-part episode where Hank was briefly a murder suspect and he feared that, due to accidentally taking one hit off a joint, he might be guilty. “My God, I’m hearing things. That’s a side effect of the marijuana poisoning.”
The Larry Sanders Show (HBOMax)
This is a 90s sitcom that aired on HBO, about a neurotic talk show host (Garry Shandling), his sleazy sidekick (Jeffrey Tambor), his profane producer (Rip Torn), and the show’s staff. Jeff loves this show so we watched two episodes on Sunday morning. The first one we watched featured Larry freaking out over David Duchovny having a crush on him. The second one featured Larry’s sidekick, Hank, freaking out because one of his sex tapes had been stolen. In short, there were a lot of people freaking out. Both episodes were pretty funny, though the whole thing was definitely a relic of a different era. (The highlight of the second episode was a bizarre conversation between Norm McDonald and Henry Winkler. Winkler thought Hank’s sex tape was an exercise video. McDonald said, “Hank’s got a huge cock,” in that Canadian way of his. Winkler replied, “Then why is he so upset?” Trust me, it was funny.) Rip Torn was hilarious as Larry’s producer. That said, I don’t think I would have wanted to spend any time with any of the characters on The Larry Sanders Show. They were all funny but kind of mean. They probably would have made me cry.
The Love Boat (Sunday Evening, MeTV)
MeTV paid tribute to Betty White on Sunday by showing a 1984 episode of The Love Boat, in which she was a passenger. Also on the Boat for that cruise: Carol Channing, Rue McClanahan, Michelle Phillips, Cesar Romero, Alan Thicke, Dick Van Patten, and Fred Willard.
Betty White and Carol Channing played showbiz veterans who were trying to convince Cesar Romero to publish White’s memoirs. Thicke played a man who was trying to convince his ex-wife (Phillips) to marry Fred Willard so he wouldn’t have to pay any more alimony. Meanwhile, in a totally serious subplot, Dick Van Patten played an abusive salesman married to McClanahan. The serious subplot was kind of jarring when mixed in with scenes of White and Channing singing and Fred Willard doing his amiable goof routine.
The Mary Tyler Moore Show (Sunday Afternoon, MeTV)
MeTV showed four episodes of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, all featuring Betty White in the role of Sue Anne Nivens. Needless to say, they were all funny but it was hard to watch them without considering that the entire cast is now gone.
Mom (Weekday Afternoon, Paramount)
On Thursday, I forgot the change the channel before Paramount started their two-hour Mom bloc. All four of the episodes dealt with the moms and their friends freaking out over people smoking weed. The few time that I’ve seen Mom have made me happy that I don’t have an addictive personality because I don’t think I could handle being a Recovery person.
The Office (Weekday Evenings, Freeform)
I’m happy to say that The Office is now on FreeForm, so I can watch it without having to deal with Comedy Central’s weird, mental health commercials. (“The past two years have been difficult for everyone….” Yeah, no shit. That’s why I’m watching your station, so I can escape for a few hours.) I watched a few episodes from Season 4 on Wednesday and then a few from Season 5 on Friday.
Open All Hours (Sunday Night, PBS)
While Arkwright cheated his customers and sold them spoiled food, Granville swept the store in quiet misery.
Relatively Famous: Ranch Rules (Saturday Morning, E!)
The children of celebrities work at a ranch, that’s the plot of this show. On the episode I saw, Billy Bob Thornton’s son was fascinated by a cow giving birth. Then everyone went back to their cabin and talked about how difficult it was being only relatively famous.
Silk Stalkings (Tubi)
On Sunday morning, I decided to get back to binging Silk Stalkings, the 90s show about half-naked people committing crimes. The first episode that I watched featured Chris and Rita investigating the murder of a hair dresser. At first, they thought it was mob-related but then it turned out to be relationship related. This was actually an episode that I had seen before but it was still enjoyable to rewatch. The second one I watched featured Chris and Rita investigating the murder of a surgeon and again, this turned out to be one that I had seen before. (Both episodes previously aired on ZLiving while I was dealing with that terrible sinus infection last year.) Still, even if it was a rewatch, it was still enjoyable. Silk Stalkings was delightfully trashy.
The first episode that I watched on Monday was another one that I saw last summer, while I was dealing with that sinus infection. (Yuck. I hate word sinus and I hate the word infection.) A real estate tycoon was beaten to death by a baseball bat and all the suspicion fell on the baseball player that Rita happened to be dating. This was followed by an episode in which an obnoxious radio talk show host bullied people into committing murder and suicide. It was a well-done episode. Rodger Bumpass (who is perhaps best-known for voicing Squidward Tentacles on Spongebob) was perfectly cast as the evil talk show host. The third episode I watched involved Chris and Rita solving a homicide that was witnessed by a teenage runaway. Rita encouraged the runaway to get back in school. Good for Rita! Finally, the fourth episode featured Rita investigating the murder of a friend’s nanny. I didn’t really pay much attention to it but, from what I saw, everyone appeared to be having fun.
On Tuesday, I got things started with an episode that featured Chris and Rita investigating a murder at an exclusive casino. Chris got to wear a tux while Rita went undercover as a dealer. They were so cute together! This was followed by an episode with Rita and Chris investigated the death of a drug dealer, despite the fact that the new DA wanted them to lay off the case because it might make the department look bad. It was a bit of bland episode, to be honest. The third episode was considerably better, as it featured Chris shooting a suspect and then the suspect’s sister trying to get revenge by seducing him. It was trashy and fun. Even more trashy and fun was the final episode that I watched on Tuesday, in which a prostitute witnessed a murder and Chris and Rita ended up investigating a judge.
I didn’t watch the show on Wednesday but I did return to it on Thursday. The first episode I watched featured Chris, Rita, and their captain (played by Broadway legend Ben Vereen) going undercover to bust a bunch of drug dealer who were working out of a club. Vereen seemed to be having a lot of fun and that made this otherwise pedestrian episode entertaining. This was followed by an episode that found Chris and Rita going undercover yet again, this time on the set of a trashy film shoot. It turned out that one of the actresses on the film was Chris’s mother! It was a fun episode.
On Friday, the first episode that I watched featured the great Patrick Muldoon as a serial rapist who had just been released from prison. Chris and Rita made sure that he didn’t go back to prison by sending him to the graveyard instead. Muldoon, in his younger years, was always perfectly cast as a villain and this episode was effectively disturbing. Rita and Chris’s fury felt real and cathartic. At its best, Silk Stalkings was trash with a conscience. That was followed by an episode where Chris and Rita went undercover as a married couple and were totally adorable as they solved the murder of a man who was found on the beach wearing a tuxedo.
I did not watch the show on Saturday but I look forward to returning to it over the course of the upcoming week!
WKRP In Cincinnati (DVD)
This 70s sitcom dealt with the daily life at a radio station in Cincinnati. Jeff loves this show so we watched a few episodes on Sunday morning. One dealt with a man in a pig costume painting the station’s lobby. Another one featured the station manager running unsuccessfully for city council. And the third one featured the station’s ad guy appearing on an early reality show called Real Families. WKRP was a pretty funny show. Like The Larry Sanders Show, it was very much a show of its time. Unlike The Larry Sanders Show, the show’s characters were really likable and I would have probably enjoyed working with them. No one would have made me cry.
Whilst stumbling around his office in a drunken daze, graveyard keeper R.J. Dobson (Joseph Conway) accidentally steps on his cat’s tail. The cat runs out of the office. Dobson stumbles after it. Dobson eventually finds the cat sitting by a grave in the cemetery. Dobson picks the cat up and starts to tell it (or maybe the people watching at home), the story behind the tombstone.
Lewis B. Moffit (George E. Mather) was a med student who had a reputation for not being scared of anything. He killed a rattlesnake without a second’s hesitation. He didn’t flinch while watching an autopsy. For some reason, this upsets his frat brothers so they decide to pull a prank on him to see how brave he really is. As a part of his initiation, Lewis has to break into the mortuary and retrieve a gold ring off of a corpse’s finger. Of course, the prank goes wrong and there are serious consequences to Lewis’s sanity.
Ring of Terror is based on the old urban legend in which a promising but tightly wound college student is either killed or driven mad by a thoughtless fraternity prank. Ring of Terror doesn’t really add anything to the basic story. The only thing that distinguishes it is that all of the college students are played by middle-aged actors so they all seem as if they should have graduated from college and outgrown the frat life a long time ago. George E. Mather was in his 40s when he starred in this film so even if the prank hadn’t broken his mind and he had graduated from medical school, he wouldn’t have had a very long practice.
The story would feel slight for even a 30-minute episode of The Twilight Zone so the director tries to pad out Ring of Terror with a visit to a “swinging” jazz club (and I use the term swinging loosely because there ain’t swinging about that joint), an autopsy, and, of course, those scenes in the cemetery with RJ and his cat. The padding doesn’t help make the story any more intersting but the autopsy scene is at least amusing. Because all of the college students are played by middle-aged actors and are wearing suits, the scene really does look as if a group of wall street brokers decided to spend their lunch hour in the hospital basement. It’s like the episode of Seinfeld where Jerry and Kramer observe an operation and accidentally drop a junior mint in the patient’s chest cavity.
Today, Ring of Terror is best known for being featured on an early episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000. (It was actually such a short movie that it had to be paired up with the third chapter of The Phantom Creeps serial.) I’ve seen both the original version and the version with Joel and the Bots and the MST 3K way is the best way to watch this movie. Without Joel and the Bots, it’s so slow and poorly acted that it is nearly unwatchable. With Joel and the Bots, there’s at least a few laughs to be found.
by Robert Bonfils
This early psychedelic cover is from 1966 and comes to us courtesy of the great Robert Bonfils.
Hey, it’s the song where they keep yelling, “TIME!” over and over again.
That’s how I best know this song. It’s one that I’ve heard in a few movies and in a few commercials and I always assumed that it was just like three minutes and that “TIME!” was the chorus. Then, last year, I decided to track it down on YouTube and I discovered that it’s actually a 15 minute song and it takes them a while to get to the “TIME!” part.
The 60s were apparently a good time for extended jams about the nature of the universe but I can imagine legions of hippies yelling, “GET TO THE TIME PART!” whenever this song was performed. I also have to admit that, listen to this song, I found myself thinking about my friend Suzi who was determined to put on a production of Hair in Denton. Everyone she hit up for money asked her if her version was involve much nudity, as Denton was seen as being a fairly conservative town and there was also some question about whether or not community actors would be willing to get naked for free.
“It’s not about the nudity, man!” she would reply, “It’s not about the nudity.” I have to admit that, for a few years afterwards, I would randomly bust out that line for no particular reason. Any conversation can be made suddenly awkward by suddenly shouting either “It’s not about the nudity, man!” or “TIME!”
That all being said, it’s a good song so here’s an early music video that was shot for German television.
Enjoy!
The Hawaii Film Critics Society has announced their picks for the best and worst of 2021. Last Night in Soho was named the best. Space Jam 2 was named the worst.
Have I mentioned how much I love Hawaii?
Here are all the winners from the Islands!
BEST PICTURE
Belfast
CODA
Last Night in Soho
Mass
The Power of the Dog
BEST DIRECTOR
Kenneth Branagh – Belfast
Jane Campion – The Power of the Dog
Destin Daniel Cretton – Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Guillermo Del Toro – Nightmare Alley
Sian Heder – CODA
BEST ACTOR
Nicolas Cage – Pig
Benedict Cumberbatch – The Power of the Dog
Peter Dinklage – Cyrano
Andrew Garfield – Tick, Tick…Boom!
Will Smith – King Richard
BEST ACTRESS
Jessica Chastain – The Eyes of Tammy Faye
Emilia Jones – CODA
Nicole Kidman – Being the Ricardos
Thomasin McKenzie – Last Night in Soho
Kristen Stewart – Spencer
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Jamie Dornan – Belfast
Ciaran Hinds – Belfast
Troy Kotsur – CODA
Jared Leto – House of Gucci
Kodhi Smit- McPhee – The Power of the Dog
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Caitriona Balfe – Belfast
Ariana DeBose – West Side Story
Kirsten Dunst – The Power of the Dog
Aunjanue Ellis – King Richard
Marlee Matlin – CODA
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Belfast
Don’t Look Up
King Richard
Last Night in Soho
Pig
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
CODA
Dune
Nightmare Alley
The Power of the Dog
The Tragedy of Macbeth
BEST ART DIRECTION
Belfast
Dune
The Green Knight
Nightmare Alley
The Power of the Dog
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Dune
House of Gucci
Last Night in Soho
Nightmare Alley
West Side Story
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Dune
Belfast
Last Night in Soho
Nightmare Alley
The Power of the Dog
BEST EDITING
Belfast
Dune
Last Night in Soho
The Power of the Dog
West Side Story
BEST ANIMATED FILM
Encanto
Luca
The Mitchells vs. The Machines
Raya and the Last Dragon
Sing 2
BEST DOCUMENTARY
9/11: Inside the President’s War Room
Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Bunny
The First Wave
Summer of Soul
Val
BEST MAKE-UP
Cruella
Cyrano
Dune
The Eyes of Tammy Faye
House of Gucci
BEST SOUND
Dune
Last Night in Soho
A Quiet Place Part II
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Spider-Man: No Way Home
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Don’t Look Up
Dune
Encanto
The Harder They Fall
The Power of the Dog
BEST SONG
“Down to Joy” – Belfast
“Beyond the Shore” – CODA
“Just Look Up” – Don’t Look Up
“Be Alive” – King Richard
“No Time to Die” – No Time to Die
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Dune
Free Guy
No Time to Die
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Spider-Man: No Way Home
BEST STUNT WORK
Black Widow
Nobody
No Time to Die
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Spider-Man: No Way Home
BEST NEW FILMMAKER
Maggie Gyllenhaal – The Lost Daughter
Rebecca Hall – Passing
Fran Kranz – Mass
Lin Manuel Miranda – Tick, Tick…Boom!
Michael Sarnoski – Pig
BEST FIRST FILM
Mass
The Novice
Passing
Pig
Tick, Tick…Boom!
BEST OVERLOOKED FILM
The Card Counter
CODA
Last Night in Soho
Malignant
The Night House
BEST VOCAL/MOTION CAPTURE PERFORMANCE:
Olivia Colman – The Mitchells vs. The Machines
Thomas Hayden Church – Spider-Man: No Way Home
John Leguizamo – Encanto
Kelly Marie Tran – Raya and the Last Dragon
Danny McBride – The Mitchells vs. The Machines
BEST HORROR FILM
Antlers
Candyman
Last Night in Soho
Malignant
A Quiet Place Part II
BEST COMIC BOOK MOVIE
Black Widow
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Spider-Man: No Way Home
The Suicide Squad
Zack Snyder’s Justice League
BEST SCI-FI FILM
Dune
Free Guy
The Matrix Resurrections
A Quiet Place Part II
Reminiscence
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Benedetta (France)
Drive My Car (Japan)
The Hand of God (Italy)
Lamb (Iceland)
The Worst Person in the World (Norway)
BEST HAWAIIAN FILM
Finding Ohana (Oahu)
I Was a Simple Man (dir. Christopher Makoto Yogi) (Oahu)
Ka Ho’i The Return (dir. Mitchel Viernes) (Oahu)
Waterman (dir. Isaac Halisima) (Oahu)
Our Makawao (dir. Robert Stone, Matt Yamashita) (Maui)
WORST FILM OF 2021
Coming 2 America
Don’t Breathe 2
The Matrix Resurrections
Space Jam: A New Legacy
Venom: Let There Be Carnage
The Georgia Film Critics Association have announced their picks for the best of 2021! Licorice Pizza picked up another award for Best Picture while Jane Campion continued to sweep the best director awards. Nic Cage was named Best Actor for Pig. Alana Haim and Bradley Cooper took Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor (both for Licorice Pizza) while West Side Story‘s Ariana DeBose was named Best Supporting Actress. Spider-Man: No Way Home was named the best film to have been shot in Georgia.
Here are the winners from Georgia:
Best Picture
BELFAST
CODA
DUNE
FLEE
THE GREEN KNIGHT
LICORICE PIZZA
THE POWER OF THE DOG
TICK, TICK… BOOM!
WEST SIDE STORY
THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD
Best Director
DUNE – Denis Villeneuve
THE GREEN KNIGHT – David Lowery
LICORICE PIZZA – Paul Thomas Anderson
THE POWER OF THE DOG – Jane Campion
WEST SIDE STORY – Steven Spielberg
Best Actor
Nicolas Cage – PIG
Benedict Cumberbatch – THE POWER OF THE DOG
Peter Dinklage – CYRANO
Andrew Garfield – TICK, TICK… BOOM!
Will Smith – KING RICHARD
Best Actress
Lady Gaga – HOUSE OF GUCCI
Alana Haim – LICORICE PIZZA
Agathe Rousselle – TITANE
Kristen Stewart – SPENCER
Rachel Zegler – WEST SIDE STORY
Best Supporting Actor
Bradley Cooper – LICORICE PIZZA
Colman Domingo – ZOLA
Ciarán Hinds – BELFAST
Jason Isaacs – MASS
Troy Kotsur – CODA
Kodi Smit-McPhee – THE POWER OF THE DOG
Best Supporting Actress
Ariana DeBose – WEST SIDE STORY
Ann Dowd – MASS
Kirsten Dunst – THE POWER OF THE DOG
Kathryn Hunter – THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH
Ruth Negga – PASSING
Best Original Screenplay
BEING THE RICARDOS – Aaron Sorkin
BELFAST – Kenneth Branagh
LICORICE PIZZA – Paul Thomas Anderson
MASS – Fran Kranz
TITANE – Julia Ducournau
Best Adapted Screenplay
CODA – Sian Heder
DRIVE MY CAR – Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Takamasa Oe
THE GREEN KNIGHT – David Lowery
THE POWER OF THE DOG – Jane Campion
WEST SIDE STORY – Tony Kushner
Best Cinematography
DUNE
THE GREEN KNIGHT
THE POWER OF THE DOG
THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH
WEST SIDE STORY
Best Production Design
DUNE
THE FRENCH DISPATCH
THE GREEN KNIGHT
NIGHTMARE ALLEY
THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH
Best Original Score
DUNE – Hans Zimmer
ENCANTO – Germaine Franco
THE HARDER THEY FALL – Jeymes Samuel
THE POWER OF THE DOG – Jonny Greenwood
SPENCER – Jonny Greenwood
Best Original Song
“Dos Orugitas” from ENCANTO
“Guns Go Bang” from THE HARDER THEY FALL
“Just Look Up” from DON’T LOOK UP
“No Time to Die” from NO TIME TO DIE
“So May We Start” from ANNETTE
Best Ensemble
CODA
DUNE
LICORICE PIZZA
MASS
THE POWER OF THE DOG
Best Foreign Language Film
DRIVE MY CAR
FLEE
THE HAND OF GOD
PETITE MAMAN
TITANE
THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD
Best Animated Film
ENCANTO
FLEE
LUCA
THE MITCHELLS VS. THE MACHINES
RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON
Best Documentary Film
THE FIRST WAVE
FLEE
THE RESCUE
SUMMER OF SOUL (…OR WHEN THE REVOLUTION COULD NOT BE TELEVISED)
VAL
Breakthrough Award
Alana Haim – LICORICE PIZZA
Jude Hill – BELFAST
Cooper Hoffman – LICORICE PIZZA
Emilia Jones – CODA
Agathe Rousselle – TITANE
Rachel Zegler – WEST SIDE STORY
Oglethorpe Award for Excellence in Georgia Cinema
ANGIE (short)
BLACK WIDOW
CLEAN SLATE
CONGRATULATIONS (short)
COPSHOP
A FIRE WITHIN
RED NOTICE
RESPECT
SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME
THE SUICIDE SQUAD
Henry Ford changed the world, for both the better and the worst.
Starting from his own small workshop in Dearborn, Michigan, Henry Ford designed the first mass-produced automobile. He transformed cars from being a luxury item to being something that nearly every family owned. He created the concept of the assembly line. He argued that workers needed to be paid a livable wage and he also advocated for an 8-hour workday. At a time when every facet of American life was heavily segregated, he encouraged his factories an auto dealerships to hire black employees. He was a pacifist, who took part in a widely-ridiculed but apparently sincere effort to try to convince the leaders of the world to just stop fighting.
Unfortunately, Henry Ford was also something of an unhinged lunatic, a man whose skill at engineering and his empathy for his underpaid workers did not necessarily translate into a sophisticated understanding of anything else. When the workers in his factories tried to unionize, Ford employed violent strike breakers and he felt that most of the population were like a children and therefore incapable of governing themselves. He understood how to make car but he also fell for all sorts of quack science and was a believer in reincarnation.
Worst of all, he was a rabid anti-Semite, who blamed almost all of the world’s problems on “Jewish bankers” and who played a huge role in popularizing a scurrilous work called The Protocols of Elder Zion in America. Claiming to lay out the details of a Jewish plot to secretly control the world, The Protocols were a ludicrous document but many people believed them because they were promoted by Henry Ford, who was as big a celebrity in the early 20th Century as all of the social media influencers are today. All these years later, The Protocols are still cited by anti-Semites. A series of anti-Semitic editorials (which Ford later claimed to have signed off on but not actually written) were published in Germany under the title The International Jew, the World’s Foremost Problem. Hitler wrote of his admiration for Ford in Mein Kampf. Ford, it should be noted, did keep his distance from Hitler, though whether that was due to a personal distaste or the threat of an economic boycott is not known. (Jewish leaders had already organized one successful boycott of Ford in the 20s, which led to Ford closing down his newspaper and offering up an apology.) At the Nuremberg Trials, many of the Nazis said that they had first been introduced to anti-Semitism through the writings of Henry Ford. Reportedly, when Ford saw newsreel footage of the concentration camps, he was so overcome with emotion that he collapsed from a stroke.
(Two years ago, when Nick Cannon regurgitated the usual anti-Semitic conspiracy theories on a podcast, he was pretty much saying the exact same thing that Henry Ford said at the start of the 20th Century. Later, under threat of economic boycott, both Ford and Cannon would off up half-hearted apologies for their statements. Ford continued to make cars. Cannon continues to host a handful of television shows. How does that work?)
First broadcast over two nights in 1987, Ford: The Man and the Machine was a Canadian miniseries about the long and controversial life of Henry Ford. Cliff Robertson played Henry Ford. Hope Lange played his wife while Heather Thomas played his mistress. R.H. Thomson played Ford’s son, the sensitive Edsel. Michael Ironside played Harry Bennett, a sinister figure who was hired to break up union activity and who eventually became Ford’s right-hand man. If I remember correctly, I believe Canadian law actually required that Michael Ironside appear in almost every Canadian film and television show made in the 80s and the 90s. His glowering presence and menacing line delivery practically shouted out, “Don’t mess with Canada,” and he does bring a note of genuine danger to his performance here.
Ford: The Man and the Machine opens in the late 20s, with an aging Henry Ford already starting to lose control of his mental faculties. A series of flashbacks then show how Ford built his first engine, his first car, and eventually his first factory. We watch as Ford goes from being an enthusiastic, self-taught engineer to being one of the most powerful men in the world. Along the way, Ford grows arrogant. The same stubbornness that led to his early success also leads to his later problems. For all of his ability, Ford’s ego and his refusal to reconsider his conclusions leaves him vulnerable to both flattery and manipulation, whether it’s coming from the White House of Woodrow Wilson, from his own executives, or from the authoritarians who rose to power in Europe following the first World War. As portrayed in the movie, he’s a loving father who also flies into a rage when Edsel designs a car on his own. He loves his wife but he keeps a mistress. He loves his family but he’ll always prefer to spend time working on his cars than spending time with them. Henry Ford changes the world but his own hubris makes it impossible for him to change with it.
The miniseries is built around Cliff Robertson’s performance as Ford and Robertson does an excellent job in the role, convincingly playing Ford as he goes from being an enthusiastic dreamer to a paranoid millionaire to a doddering old man, a Bidenesque figuredhead who is only nominally in charge of his own company. Neither the film nor Robertson shy away from showing us Henry Ford’s flaws. Instead, both the production and the actor offer up a portrait of a complex man who transformed the way that people lived but who couldn’t escape from his own prejudices and resentments. Ford: The Man and The Machine is a history lesson but it’s a valuable one. If you’re a student of history, you’ll find much to think about in this miniseires.
For the record, I do drive a Ford and it’s a good car. However, I tell myself that it’s named after Gerald Ford.
Randolph Scott stars in The Doolins of Oklahoma, a fictionalized account of the career of the real-life western outlaw, Bill Doolin.
Doolin (played, naturally, by Randolph Scott) may have once rode with the fearsome Dalton Brothers but, according to this film, he was actually just an ordinary, salt of the Earth type who wanted to settle down with the right woman and lead a normal life. It looks like he might get that opportunity after the Daltons are killed and Doolin tires of leading his own gang of outlaws. Doolin settles in a Oklahoma town, takes a new name, and falls in love with Elaine (Virginia Hutton). But when both the members of his old gang and a veteran lawman (George Macready) show up in town, Doolin learns that the past cannot be escaped.
The plot of The Doolins of Oklahoma is nothing special, though it’s portrayal of the outlaws being more honorable than law enforcement may have been surprising in 1949. The main thing that distinguishes The Doolins of Oklahoma is the cast, which is full of western veterans like John Ireland, Noah Beery Jr., Charles Kemper, Frank Fenton, and Jock Mahoney. Not surprisingly Randolph Scott is ideally cast as a weary cowboy who just wants to settle down and live the rest of his life in peace. Scott is well-matched by MacReady, as the marshal who will not let anything stand in the way doing his duty as a member of law enforcement. Gordon Douglas directs crisply and energetically and every member of the main cast gets at least one big moment in which to distinguish themselves. The Doolins of Oklahoma may not be a groundbreaking film but it will be enjoyed by fans of the western genre.
Last night, I finally watched Dear Evan Hansen.
Dear Evan Hansen is the film adaptation of the Tony-award winning Broadway musical of the same name. Recreating his stage role, Ben Platt plays Evan Hansen, a teenager who suffers from social anxiety and who is mistaken for having been the best friend of Connor Murphy (Colton Ryan), a troubled classmate who committed suicide after stealing a letter that Evan had written to himself. (Somewhat awkwardly, it was also a letter in which Evan somewhat obliquely wrote about the crush that he had on a member of Connor’s family.) When the letter is subsequently found on Connor’s body, it’s assumed that it’s a suicide note that Connor meant for Evan. Evan, who is in love with Connor’s sister, Zoe (Kaitlyn Dever), allows everyone to believe that he and Connor were friends. Connor’s mother, Cynthia, (Amy Adams) and his stepfather (Danny Pino) adopt Evan as a sort of replacement for their dead son. Cynthia views Evan as being the only way that she’ll ever understand what Connor was going through and Evan continually reassures that Murphys that Connor really did love all of them and that he was trying to change his life for the better. With the Murphys now treating Evan as a member of their own family, Evan’s mother (Julianne Moore) feels that her son is now ashamed of her. And Evan’s classmate, Alana (Amandla Stenberg), launches a movement to raise money to preserve the apple orchard where Evan claims that he and Connor spent all of their time together.
As a musical, Dear Evan Hansen was very popular. As a film, it doesn’t work and it doesn’t work for all the reasons that everyone assumed that it wouldn’t work. Believe me, I wanted it work. From the minute that the trailer first dropped, the reaction to the film has been so overwhelmingly negative that I was really hoping that the film itself would turn out to be an overlooked gem. I was really hoping that this would be one of those underappreciated films that just needed a few brave champions. Instead, it turned out to be not terrible in the way that Cats was terrible but still too flawed to be considered a success.
First off, the plot itself doesn’t transition well from the stage to film. There’s too many holes and there’s too many places in the story where you find yourself wondering why you should care about Evan and his problems. Those plot holes may not have been as big of a problem when the story was presented on the stage because watching any story play out against an artificial backdrop requires a certain suspension of disbelief. But, on film, seeing Evan attending an actual school and walking down an actual street and visiting an actual house, you’re much more aware of how inauthentic the story feels. Evan’s actions rarely make sense and it’s difficult to accept that anyone, even Connor’s emotionally desperate parents, would believe the stories that Evan concocts about his friendship with Connor. On stage, you could perhaps accept that Zoe would buy that Evan and Connor were friends who confided in each other despite the fact that Evan doesn’t seem to know anything about Connor’s family or home life. On screen, especially when one considers the fierce intelligence that Kaitlyn Dever brings to the role of Zoe, it’s a bit more difficult to believe.
The other big problem with the film is Ben Platt is too old for the role of Evan. Platt first played the role in 2015, when he was 23. He won a Tony and certainly, he deserves a lot of credit for creating the role from the workshop phase all the way to Broadway. Now, however, he’s 28 and he looks considerably older. So much of what Evan does is acceptable only if you believe that he’s an immature 17 year-old who is desperately looking for a place and a family where he belongs. The same actions go from being poignant to being creepy when they’re done by someone who appears to be in his mid-30s. While Platt has a great singing voice and shines in the musical numbers, he’s a bit too mannered when he just has to recite dialogue. He’s still giving a stage performance, even though he’s now playing the role on film and everyone around him is giving a film performance. Platt’s talent is undeniable but he’s miscast here and casting him opposite performers who can actually still pass for teenagers doesn’t help the situation at all.
(When I watched the film, I thought that obvious age difference between Ben Platt and Kaitlyn Dever occasionally made the scenes between Evan and Zoe uncomfortable to watch. Then I did some research and discovered that Dever is only three years younger than Platt. It’s just that Dever still looks like a teen while Platt looks very much like an adult. And there’s no shame in looking your age. Someone just needs to cast Platt in an adult role.)
In Platt’s defense, the film doesn’t really make perfect use of any of the members of its talented cast. Amy Adams is such a good actress but the film casts her as a stereotypically flakey rich suburbanite who flitters from one trend to another. Julianne Moore and Amandla Stenberg are similarly wasted, playing characters who have potential but who are never quite given as much to do as they deserve. Of the cast, Kaitlyn Dever is the stand-out, even though Zoe is a bit of an inconsistent character. Initially, she seems like the one person willing to call out everyone on their BS and then, just as suddenly, she’s oddly forgiving of someone who essentially manipulated her emotions for his own benefit.
Not surprisingly, Dear Evan Hansen works best when people are singing. Ben Platt and Colton Ryan bring so much energy to Sincerely, Me that I briefly had hope that the film was turning itself around. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case but still, it’s a good production number. Unfortunately, the rest of the movie doesn’t really live up to it.
Through the Shattered Lens 